Friday, March 29, 2019

This is sort of a Public Service Announcement, letting those of
you who frequent the Pinterest page for the Doucette Library, that I’ve added
one more.

The latest addition is for Social and Emotional Learning, K-3. Both Paula (co-worker) and I
have been fielding a few more questions and requests for picture books that
touch on these topics. We’ve also
noticed a few more lists of picture books focused on these areas appearing lately, too.

The Pinterest boards that I’ve set up, typically are of books
and resources found in the Doucette Library. This ensures that student-teachers will be
able to track down those resources, specifically.

I went to Alberta Education’s website to see how
they were defining this kind of learning and decided to base my selection of
books on this. The Overview framed social-emotional learning as working
with others, building resiliency, achieving goals, and reducing bullying. They’ve highlighted five competencies that
connect to social-emotional learning, too and include self-awareness,
self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision
making. There are many concepts that
fall into these competencies as well such as empathy, mindfulness, managing stress,
communication skills, and conflict resolution to name a few. These are some of the terms that helped me
frame my selection of picture books for this board.

Monday, March 25, 2019

A couple of nonfiction books that recently caught my eye are
from the publisher 360 degrees. What I liked their approach to lift-the-flap
books for older kids.

In Focus: Close-ups, Cutaways, Cross Sections, 10 Illustrators
created by Libby Walden is a general information book that covers a range of
topics from both the natural and human-made worlds in a unique way.Each double spread focuses on a theme
providing a random but interesting selection of facts about the creatures or
things represented. These two pages then fold out to a four page spread to take
the reader even deeper into the facts.

For example, the first spread is about the ocean. Featured
are various sea creatures such as the blue whale, sea horse, puffer fish,
swordfish, jellyfish and starfish, to name a few. We learn a pertinent fact or
two about the animals from the front pages such as the blue whale is the
largest animal to have ever lived on the planet and typically lives between 80
to 90 years. Or that starfish are not
fish and though commonly seen with 5 arms they can have as many as 40. Or that
jellyfish have been around more than 650 million years!Flipping open the top pages, we see cross
sections of the animals exposing their skeletons and internal organs. From here,
there is more detailed information. Did you know that the heart of the blue
whale is the size of a small car weighing in at 770 kg or 1550 lbs? Amazing.

Topics covered are: the physical structure of homes found
worldwide, space and space vehicles, international landmarks, various plants,
animals and geological features, everyday objects, well-known buildings from
around the world, fruits and vegetables, land animals and modes of
transportation.Wide ranging, indeed.

The formats are the draw here and there are many of these
kinds of trivia/random information books out there.The illustrations are well done and support
the informational tidbits.

I see these as interesting resources for classrooms but not
necessarily crucial. These books will appeal to some kids and could be used in centres or for
individual reading time. Elementary and middle grade students are the best
audience for these books.

Monday, March 18, 2019

I’ve just been working my way through a cart of new books to
be added to the Doucette Library’s collection and really enjoyed, Little Blue Chair by Cary Fagan, illustrated by Madeline Kloepper.

It’s a wonderful example of a circular story that leaves the
reader feeling content that everything has a time and place and things will end
up as they should.

So, there’s a little boy named Boo with a little blue chair
that is very much part everything he does in a day – sitting for reading and
eating both inside and out, playing and even sleeping.But when he out grows his chair, his mother
places the chair on the curb with a note to offering it to someone else.

We follow the chair’s journey to various homes, having
varying purposes and living with several people who make use of the chair.It has a very rich and varied life, if chairs
have lives, from the exotic to the mundane, traveling over land, sea and air,
‘working’ in a carnival, as a seat for riding an elephant, a bird feeder, a
plant stand and a child’s chair.

But, circumstances allow for the chair to serendipitously
arrive at the door of a man named Boo who thinks this chair looks kind of
familiar.

The illustrations have a simple, old-fashion feel to it with
a muted palette of colours. The book conveys a more practical sensibility rather than nostalgic about the ever changing purpose of this particular chair. It's a good thing that this chair changes hands and remains useful rather than being discarded or kept to become clutter.

This would make a great read aloud for grades Kindergarten to grade 2 or 3.

Monday, March 11, 2019

by
Nancy Furstinger is the perfect book for middle grade STEM classes.

It combines true stories of animals of varying species with mobility issues with stories of technology and science that provide second
chances for these same animals.

Typically, the reader is given a quick synopsis of how the animal
came to have their problem and then a much more detailed description of how
people have figured out ways to make the animals mobile once more.

The stories focus on a range of typical farm animals including sheep,
goats, cows, horses, pigs to family pets like dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs to much
more exotic creatures such as elephants, an eagle, a llama, dolphins, an alligator,
a Sandhill crane and turtles. Some have been born with impediments, and others
subjected to human cruelty or an accident that left them physically impaired.

With the help of many kind people who take in these
animals their lives are greatly improved when doctors, vets, scientists,
engineers, companies that design mobility devices for pets become
involved.It’s fascinating to hear what
goes into making these kinds of devices, everything from leg and feet/hoof prosthetics
and orthotics to wheelchairs, mobile slings, moving tails, beaks, and shells. As
you would expect, technology plays a huge part in this from basic designs and
DIY supplies all the way up to high tech solutions like 3D printing and implants.

This is an inspiring book as we learn about the indomitable
spirits of impaired and hurt animals to the loving people who take them in to
the creative people who come up with the myriad of ways to improve their quality
of life.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Today's blog is written by my colleague, Paula Hollohan, the Doucette Library's Instructional Technologies and Information Specialist. She's just refreshed herself by browsing through some of the Doucette Library's recent additions. Her focus is on books with a strong connection to STEM topics.

By Paula Hollohan

Even though I work full time in a library, it seems the
minutes I get to spend with new books must be intentional and sometimes a bit
rushed.I would love to curl up in a
chair with a cart of books beside me to savour new samplings for the
collection.

As things are unusually quiet on the desk today, I can take
a moment to look at what is new and cool in the areas that I spend the most time
with.

The subject of this nonfiction picture book
is Raye Montague, one of the many hidden figures whose innovation changed the
way navy ships are built.She overcame
exceptional odds being a black woman in the 1950s to design, in 1971, the FFG-7
Frigate.Using her own computer
programs, she completed the design of the frigate in 18 hours and 26
minutes.The accompanying notes,
bibliography and time line, all contribute to the wealth of information in this
book.The big problem I have with it is
that it is written in verse.What a
shame.The story would stand better is
some well-written prose to showcase the power of her accomplishments.This book can be included in classrooms up to
grade 6 as students learn how to write biographical information, consider time
lines of famous people, and collect biographic research about historical figures
and just for students to ponder the strength and tenaciousness of this
intelligent woman.

Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda
McCloskey would be a great book to have in your classroom.

From grades K-3, girls will recognize the
pressure (sometimes from parents) to play with dolls but our main character,
Charlotte, incorporates her “making” into traditional play.Charlotte is a maker and a tinkerer.Although her house seems full of opportunities
for her to indulge her maker imagination, Charlotte’s mother gives her a
doll.Just a doll.It says “mama.”As Charlotte puts her mind to it, knowing
that a doll who talks must also have a power supply, she unleashes her “making”
and inventions and innovations ensue.

Two books have recently come in that would be great “browsers”
to have in your classroom to spur students on to learn about innovative ideas.

Engineered!Engineering Design at Work: A fun exploration of nine amazing feats by Shannon
Hunt and James Gulliver Hancock looks at 9 different amazing feats of
engineering from the following fields: aerospace, biomedical, chemical,
mechanical, electrical, civil, geomatics, computer and environmental
engineering.Examples like the Millau
Viaduct, a traffic problem solving bridge that was built on time and on budget
and solved a major traffic issue in France.The innovative design is an engineering feat and a work of art.

InnovationNation: How Canadian innovators made the world …smarter, smaller, kinder,safer, healthier, wealthier, happier by David Johnston and Tom Jenkins,
illustrated by Josh Holinaty would also provide a great browsing experience
in any classroom.Pages 124-125 give a
two page spread on “How you can be an innovator,”listing ways to inquire, ideate, incubate and
implement ideas and what steps to take within each action to be the best
innovator ever.I also loved reading
about the invention and pick up of JAVA script and the plastic garbage bad and
something known as the “shrouded tuyere,” a way to stir steel invented by
Robert Lee who came up with the idea after tooting in the bathtub.Innovation is everywhere.Both these books would be valuable in middle
grades.

And now about that edict to have your students coding from
k-12.There are some easy ways to get
students coding in your classroom but what if one of the ways was to read a
picture book.How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk, illustrated by Sara Palacios is
not an excellent picture book but does present the ideas and vocabulary that
are foundational in coding and anchors it to a familiar activity, building a
sandcastle.Look for working definitions
of sequence, loops, and “if-then-else” statements.Having one of these books in your collection
is plenty and this one does the job.Keep this one to the early grades.

Get Coding! LearnHTML, CSS, and JAVAscript and build a website, app and game by Young Rewired
State is an attractive sort of book of challenges where you work through
various coding recipes to make a website, app and a game.This book would be great in a classroom where
every year now you will be able to reach some of your students through these
coding challenges.Now, keep in mind,
that coding books like this are awesome usually for a short time so buy it now
and use it.In September Get Coding2 is coming out and will be
full of new challenges. I would say to start kids in grade 3 with these tasks
and use this book through grade 9 or 10.

Sometimes when I am looking for a new approach to
educational technology I fall back on an old library habit.See what the new books look like and how can
they be used to engage students in new ed tech challenges.This list has a little something for
everyone.They will be included in the
Doucette collection later this week for your use.And I do feel a sense of renewal now that I have
touched a few new books.

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About Me

I am the reference coordinator at The Doucette Library of Teaching Resources, a curriculum library in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.
I love connecting education students and teachers with engaging and exciting resources for classroom teaching. I believe that resources that get me excited (or those that get you excited) are the ones with the best potential to get kids interested in learning about - well, everything. Finding those books that connect to the real world are the ones I enjoy promoting the most.